Rotary ticket printing and numbering machine with fraud preventing means



G. GIORI Nov. 7, 1967 ROTARY TICKET PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHIN WITH FRAUD PREVENTING MEANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 25. 1965 HEQEEH EEEEEE] G. Glow 3,351,005

ROTARY TICKET PRINTING AND NUMBER MACHINE WITH FRAUD PREVENTING ME S Filed May 25. 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Nov. 7, 1967 If. am a Q EWJE Nov. 7, 1967 G. GIORI 3,351,005 PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHINE FRAUD PREVENTING MEANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 ROTARY TICKET WITH Filed May 25. 1965 3,351,005 MACHINE Nov. 7, 1967 G. GIORI ROTARY TICKET PR ING WITH FR PRE AND NUMBERING VENTING MEANS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 25. 1965 United States Patent "ce 3,351,005 ROTARY TICKET PRINTING AND NUMBERING MACHINE WITH FRAUD PREVENTING MEANS Gnaltiero Giori, 4 Rue de la Paix, Lausanne, Switzerland Filed May 25, 1965, Ser. No. 458,584 Claims priority, application Germany, June 8, 1964, G 40,790 6 Claims. (Cl. 101--77) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLQSURE Printing unit for a rotary press producing sheets of tickets consisting of a separable stub and a coupon with safety marks overlapping the stub and coupon, comprising a pressure cylinder, at least one rotatable shaft, a fixed carrier on the shaft, an annular support on the carrier, a plate for printing the safety marks carried on the annular support, the anular support being rotatably mounted on the carrier, the carrier having stepping means operable at the completion of the rotation of the shaft for rotating the annular support and the plate relative to the shaft, whereby the safety marks are displaced successively from ticket to ticket.

In the case of perforated tickets such as lottery tickets, racing slips etc. with a coupon to be torn off all that was considered necessary up to now was to print the perforated sheet with numbers without taking any special safety precautions so that each ticket had a different number and the portion of the ticket kept by the seller had the same number as the part to be given to the buyer, the latter part being called the coupon.

With these tickets there is a danger that swindlers may hand in a forged coupon printed with a winning number, this forgery may not be noticed on superficial scrutiny and the winnings may be paid out which can easily happen if there is a crowd pressing round the collecting place.

Besides this with the present tickets the collector is obliged to check the coupon presented with the stub in question by careful comparison of the various multifigured numbers on the coupon and the stub which is time consuming, tiresome and can very easily lead to unnoticed mistakes since when comparing numbers with a long series of figures it is easy to confuse the order of successive figures.

The aim of the present invention is to avoid this disadvantage of known tickets and to produce a special safety mark which on the one hand makes forgeries easily detectable visually and on the other hand facilitates comparison of coupons and stubs so that it is possible to confirm immediately that the coupon and stub correspond.

Starting with a rotary press for printing safety marks when producing tickets with coupons to be torn ofl. such that the perforated dividing line runs in the direction of feed of the tickets to be printed, the invention is characterized in that the press prints a periodic or aperiodic pattern of lines overlapping the perforated line such that this pattern of lines is successively displaced with respect to the front and rear edges from one ticket to the next in the direction of feed.

Thus each ticket, or each of a number of adjacent tickets to be printed simultaneously on a sheet, has a diiferetn safety mark. Each pattern is only repeated after a large number of sheets have passed through. Thus the desired security against forgery of tickets is achieved by simple means.

The invention will be explained in more detail with reference to the embodiment represented in the accompanying drawing wherein:

3,351,005 Patented Nov. 7, 1967 FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 are plan views of sheets printed with safety marks,

FIGURE 4 is a schematic view of the printing cylinder of a three cylinder, two colour printing press;

FIGURES 5 and 6 are cross-sectional views of a numbering cylinder with support for safety mark plate, and

FIGURE 7 is a side elevational view of the support for a safety mark plate.

The sheet 1 (FIG. 1) to be printed with safety marks has already been printed with lottery tickets, racing slips 2 etc. with coupons 3 in a quantity corresponding to the size of the sheet, the coupons being numbered in succession at various points 4 to 6. The perforation 7 for tearing off the coupon from the stub can either be made at the same time as the numbers are printed by combining with the present mechanism a perforating device of known construction such as that disclosed in British Patent No. 842,705, or before or after, but this feature forms no part of this invention.

Aggregates called numbering cylinders are used for numbering. The press shown in FIG. 4 produces twocolour numbers on each ticket by means of the so-called numbering cylinders 8 and 9 with a common pressure cylinder 11 Each numbering cylinder shaft 11 and 12 carries the required quantity of numbering units 13 or 14, some printing horizontally and some vertically, and their control cam plates 15 and 16 which change the numbers automatically with each revolution.

In accordance with the proposals in the invention the tickets are printed with one or more periodic or aperiodic patterns of wavy, zig-zag or other lines overlapping the perforation 7. In FIGS. 1 to 3 the safety marks consist of two displaced wavy lines 18 and 19 of different amplitude.

These marks are thus divided and approximately halved by the perforation line 7.

In FIGS. 1 to 3. the marks 18 (fixed and printed by fixed plate 20) and 19 (displaced and printed by displaceable plate 23) are of different colours, are each uniformly periodic and intersect one another since they are displaced with respect to phase. Either one or both of the marks can also be aperiodic. It is essential that at least one of the two marks is displaced successively from one sheet to the next in the direction of feed.

FIGURE 3 shows a coupon 3 torn ofi from its stub and a differently numbered stub 2 such that when the two are brought together it can be seen that the marks 18 and 19 on the two sections do not fit together so that'any falsification of the number on the coupon or forgery of the coupon itself is immediately apparent. The stepped displacement of the plate for the safety mark with respect to the sheet can be achieved, for example, by means of a stepping mechanism.

In the embodiment in FIGS. 5 and 6 the safety mark printing unit is combined with the number printing unit. The two printing units have the cylinder 10 and shafts 11 and 12 and the safety mark cylinder in common. The safety mark plates 20 which print safety mark 18 without displacement at the edges, that is rotating uniformly, are rigidly connected by their supports 21 with bosses 22 to their shafts 11 and 12 (FIG. 5).

However, plates 23 (FIG. 6) print safety marks 19 which are displaced in successive printing steps, have ring shaped plate supports 24 which sit freely on the plates 25 of their supporting bosses 26. The ring shaped support 24 has teeth 27 on its inside edge (FIG. 7) which engage with the ratchet mechanism 28 which is rotated by the regulating cam follower 30 and cam plate 31. The cam follower 39 engages the peripheral edge of the cam which upon rotation of the support causes movement of the cam follower which rotates ratchet mechanism 28. To prevent he plate support 24 from moving back after each step forwards, there is a spring loaded arm 32 engaging with he teeth 27. Thus each time the numbering cylinder rolates, the safety mark plate moves forward a step with respect to the cylinder shaft.

The position of the plate supports 21 and 25 can be adapted to different widths of paper and tickets by axial displacement on their shafts 11 and 12. The regulating cam plate 31 pivotally mounted on the frame of the machine can be fitted with a swinging arm 33 or anything suitable for moving it out of contact with cam follower 30 so that in the event of a sheet being printed incorrectly the plate support 24 is not displaced.

I claim:

1. A printing unit for a rotary press producing a sheet of consecutive tickets consisting of a stub and a coupon separated from the stub by a tearable dividing line and having coinciding front and rear edges and safety marks overlapping said line, comprising: a pressure cylinder, at least one rotatable shaft, a fixed carrier on said shaft, an annular support on said carrier, a plate for printing said safety marks carried by said annular support, said sheet being urged against said plate by said pressure cylinder, said annular support being rotatably mounted on said carrier, said carrier having stepping means operable at the completion of the rotation of said shaft for rotating said annular support and plate relative to said shaft, whereby said safety marks are displaced successively from ticket to ticket with respect to said front and rear edges thereof.

2. Printing unit according to claim 1 wherein said shaft carries a numbering cylinder carrying numbering units for simultaneously printing numbers and safety marks on said tickets.

3. Printing unit according to claim 1 wherein said stepping means include a cam plate, and a ratchet mechanism rotated by said cam plate, said annular support having teeth thereon engaged with said ratchet mechanism whereby said support is moved forward a step with respect to said shaft each time said shaft rotates.

4. Printing unit according to claim 3 wherein a spring loaded arm engages said teeth to prevent said support from moving back after each step forward.

5. A printing unit for a rotary press producing a sheet of consecutive tickets consisting of a stub and a coupon separated from the stub by a tearable dividing line and having coinciding front and rear edges and safety marks overlapping said line, comprising: a pressure cylinder, at least one rotatable shaft, a fixed carrier on said shaft, an annular support on said carrier, a plate for printing said safety marks carried by said annular support, said sheet being urged against said plate by said pressure cylinder, said annular support being rotatably mounted on said carrier, said carrier having stepping means operable at the completion of the rotation of said shaft for rotating said annular support and plate relative to said shaft, whereby said safety marks are displaced successively from ticket to ticket with respect to said front and rear edges thereof and a second rotatable shaft, a second fixed carrier on said second shaft, a second annular support on said second carrier, a second plate for printing safety marks in a different colour carrier by said second annular support, said second annular support being rotatably mounted on said second carrier, said second plate producing safety marks the pattern of which are phase shifted Wth respect to said first mentioned safety marks.

6. A printing unit according to claim 5 wherein said second plate is fixed against rotation with respect to said second carrier and rotates with said second shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 255,641 3/1882 Loomis 283-12 469,931 3/1892 Briggs 101 76 568,399 9/1896 Blanchard 28313 642,389 1/1900 Turck 101-76 658,422 9/1900 Braly 283--8 760,949 5/1904 Beeler 28315 1,067,222 7/1913 Johnston 101 76 1,200,758 10/1916 Pringle 101 77 1,804,238 5/1931 Tensfeldt 283 18 2,821,915 2/1958 Katz 101--226 3,121,363 2/1964 Simjian 101-226 WILLIAM B. PENN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A PRINTING UNIT FOR A ROTARY PRESS PRODUCING A SHEET OF CONSECUTIVE TICKETS CONSISTING OF A STUB AND A COUPON SEPARATED FROM THE STUB BY A TEARABLE DIVIDING LINE AND HAVING COINCIDING FRONT AND REAR EDGES AND SAFETY MARKS OVERLAPPING SAID LINE, COMPRISING: A PRESSURE CYLINDER, AT LEAST ONE ROTATABLE SHAFT, A FIXED CARRIER ON SAID SHAFT, AN ANNULAR SUPPORT ON SAID CARRIER, A PLATE FOR PRINTING SAID SAFETY MARKS CARRIED BY SAID ANNULAR SUPPORT, SAID SHEET BEING URGED AGAINST SAID PLATE BY SAID PRESSURE CYLINDER, SAID ANNULAR SUPPORT BEING ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID CARRIER, SAID CARRIER HAVING STEPPING MEANS OPERABLE AT THE COMPLETION OF THE ROTATION OF SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATING SAID ANNULAR SUPPORT AND PLATE RELATIVE TO SAID SHAFT, WHEREBY SAID SAFETY MARKS ARE DISPLACED SUCCESSIVELY FROM TICKET TO TICKET WITH RESPECT TO SAID FRONT AND REAR EDGES THEREOF. 